Update on Intellance 2 Clinical Trial

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting this weekend saw the announcement of the latest brain cancer research, including the updated results of the Intellance 2 clinical trial.

Glioblastoma cells

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual
meeting this weekend saw the announcement of the latest brain cancer research,
including the updated results of
the Intellance 2 clinical trial. This phase 2 trial has
been ongoing since 2015 and aims to test the effects of antibody ABT-414/806 on
EGFR amplified recurrent glioblastoma.

Researchers from the Intellance 2 study reported that one-year survival was 40% for those receiving a combination therapy of antibody ABT-414/806 with chemotherapy drug temozolomide. This they found, was a significant improvement in survival compared to the control arm of the study, who had a one-year survival rate of 28%.

ABT-414/806 is an antibody drug conjugate, a class of highly
potent cancer drugs designed to remain stable in the bloodstream until it finds
a cancer cell, to which it binds. This targeted approach allows ABT-414/806 to
then release a toxic agent directly into cancerous cells, leaving healthy cells
alone.

Testing of this antibody was performed in the laboratory by Professor Andrew Scott from La Trobe University, for which Professor Scott received one of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation’s 2014 Innovation grants. His research was particularly focused on overcoming resistance to ABT-414/806 and improving patient responses. Professor Scott then remarked, “Our findings are currently being actively fed back into the design of up-coming trials of ABT-414 in the newly diagnosed Intellance 1, and recurrent [glioblastoma] Intellance 2 trials.”

To date, the international Intellance 2 clinical trial has
recruited 206 adult patients with recurrent glioblastoma from Australia,
Europe, the United States and Asia.

These study participants were randomly allocated into one of three trial arms. The first group received the antibody drug conjugate in its pharmaceutical form, called Depatux-M. Meanwhile, the second group was modelled on the outcomes of Professor Scott’s research, whereby he concluded that “the best patient outcomes are likely to be in combination therapy.” As such, this group received Depatux-M in combination with temozolomide. Lastly, the third group received standard chemotherapy treatments of temozolomide, or another chemotherapy drug called lomustine, alone.

In November last year, the first
results of the Intellance 2 trial were released and were the first to
suggest that the combination therapy may improve overall survival in recurrent
glioblastoma. Researchers had concluded that patients who received the
combination therapy of Depatux-M with temozolomide had an overall survival of
14.9 months from their recruitment onto the trial. This is in comparison to an
overall survival of 9.5 months in those who received temozolomide alone.

Updated Study Results

At ASCO only a few days ago, the updated results of
the Intellance 2 trial were released and researchers were able to report that one-year
survival was 40% for those receiving the combination therapy of Depatux-M and
temozolomide. This is a significant improvement in comparison to those patients
on either temozolomide or lomustine alone, who had a one-year survival rate of
28%. Additionally, researchers established that those patients who received
higher levels of Depatux-M during their first course of treatment were
associated with a higher overall survival.

These are exciting results and provide hope that this
antibody drug conjugate may be further used in the fight against brain cancer.
The Intellance 2 trial is no longer accepting adult enrolments but is currently
recruiting for a paediatric-sub
study to evaluate the safety of the combination treatment in children with
high grade gliomas in Australia, Europe, the United States and Asia.